The Premier League could be powerless to prevent Owen Oyston, the Blackpool
director, remaining in his post should the club win promotion from the
Championship, despite the millionaire businessman having served 3½ years in
prison for the rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl.

Centre of attention: Owen OystonPhoto: PA

By Mark Ogden

7:30AM BST 13 May 2010

Blackpool’s play-off semi-final victory against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday has left the Lancashire club potentially 90 minutes away from a return to the top flight for the first time since 1971.

But should Blackpool be promoted, Oyston is unlikely to be barred from continuing his directorship of the club by the Premier League’s fit and proper person test due to a loophole in the regulations which, although heavily criticised in recent seasons, were toughened up with new financial rules last September.

Oyston, listed as a director in Blackpool’s most recent submission to Companies House on March 31, bought a controlling stake in the Bloomfield Road club in May 1988, but passed on his role as chairman to his wife, Vicki, during his prison sentence. Oyston’s son, Karl, is the club’s present chairman.

The 76 year-old has been free to retain his position as a director of the club, however, due to the Football League’s fit and proper person test, introduced in 2004, not being applied retrospectively to individuals already in situ prior to 2004.

And although the Premier League’s rules that “a conviction (which is not a spent conviction) imposed by a court of the United Kingdom or a competent court of foreign jurisdiction” is classed as a “disqualifying event” for directors, it is understood that Oyston would not be subjected to that clause due to his pre-existing presence on the Blackpool board.